Alberta Premier Danielle Smith invoked her province’s new sovereignty act for the first time on Nov. 27 to oppose Ottawa’s proposed requirements for achieving a net-zero electricity grid by 2035. The province says the requirements impact the reliable supply of electrical power and increase costs, and that the federal government is infringing on provincial jurisdiction.
In a motion tabled in the provincial legislature under the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, the Alberta government asks legislators to reject the constitutional validity of Ottawa’s Clean Electricity Regulations (CER) and use legal means to oppose the measure.
The motion asks that provincial officials and regulators not enforce the feds’ 2035 requirements “to the extent legally permissible,” and proposes exploring the feasibility of creating a provincial Crown corporation to ensure reliable electricity generation in case private generators fail to supply the volume needed under the new federal regulations.
“Albertans must have access to affordable and reliable power when and where they need it. It’s a matter of health and safety, and a matter of financial reality,” Ms. Smith said at a press conference on Nov. 27. “But it’s also a matter of law. ... The Constitution is clear, electricity is a provincial responsibility.”
This marks the first time the Alberta government has invoked the act, which the province says allows it to reject federal laws or policies deemed harmful to Alberta. The legislation was championed by Ms. Smith during her United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership bid in 2022. It was passed into law shortly after she won the leadership race and became premier.
Ms. Smith said the decision to invoke the act came after the province had tried to work with the federal government toward a net-zero emissions plan by 2050 instead of 2035, but the attempts were unsuccessful.
“Unfortunately, after months of meetings, they continue to reject this opportunity and remain committed to an absurdly unrealistic and unattainable goal of a net-zero power grid by 2035,” Ms. Smith said.
The new draft requirements are part of the Liberal government’s climate change policies, which imposed new regulations on the energy and other sectors in the country. The federal government says that besides targeting emissions, its CER has other benefits, arguing that it leads to job creation and attracting new business to Canada.
Responding to Ms. Smith’s move, federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault and Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson said the premier is “choosing to create fear and uncertainty over collaboration.”
“At no point in time did the Alberta government, including representatives from the Premier’s office, raise the Premier’s intent to introduce this Sovereignty Act motion on the draft regulations during these meetings.”
The ministers added that “building a clean electricity grid” will provide a “massive economic opportunity” for the province.
The Alberta NDP said it opposes the UCP government’s motion, saying it creates an environment of uncertainty.
‘Safety and Reliability’
Alberta says it still needs to rely on sources such as natural gas, which it says is a clean form of energy, to ensure a reliable electrical grid, and that only relying on renewable energy sources wouldn’t be sufficient.Ms. Smith’s motion says that the CER jeopardizes “the safety and reliability” of the provincial electricity grid, which could lead to blackouts.
It adds that the regulations have already created an environment of uncertainty for investments, which is a threat to the economic well-being of the province. Moreover, the motion says that adversely impacting the reliability of the electrical grid threatens the safety and health of the province’s residents during extreme cold and hot conditions.
“The Federal Initiative threatens the economic well-being of Albertans and the economic viability of the Alberta economy by dramatically increasing the cost of access to electrical energy through mandating hundreds of billions of dollars of public and private monies to be spent within an approximate 10-year period in technologies still under development and yet unproven for the required commercial application and grid infrastructure and services,” the motion says.
The federal government says its plan still allows for limited use of gas for power generation, in cases such as serving as a backup to renewable sources, as long as that generation is tied to carbon capture and storage technologies. However, the province says this limited use isn’t enough to entice investors to maintain their plants.
‘All Legal Means Necessary’
The motion calls for the use of “all legal means necessary” to oppose the implementation and enforcement of the CER in Alberta.“The Federal Initiative (CER) is already having an extreme chilling effect on investment in Alberta’s electricity generation industry, and further, is slowing investments in emissions reducing technology and projects,” says the motion.
The motion calls for several responses, including not recognizing the constitutional validity of the CER while continuing to operate the province’s electrical grid in a manner that would ensure access “to reliable electricity at all times.”
The motion adds that the government will work with entities such as the AESO, the Alberta Utilities Commission, and consumers to eventually achieve the provincial 2050 net-zero target “through incentivizing the advancement of emission reducing technologies and legitimate carbon offsets.”
Recent Court Wins
Alberta’s Minister of Affordability and Utilities Nathan Neudorf says that the electrical grid falls under provincial jurisdiction.“The courts are on our side, science and logic are on our side, the Constitution is on our side–electricity generation is the jurisdiction of the provinces, not the federal government,” Mr. Neudorf said in a statement.
The federal Liberals recently lost two court cases dealing with disputes over federal and provincial jurisdiction.
In October, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the federal Impact Assessment Act, which adds federal environmental regulations on major infrastructure projects such as pipelines, is largely unconstitutional. The legislation, also known as Bill C-69, was dubbed the “no more pipelines act” by former Alberta premier Jason Kenney due to the regulatory burden it added to energy projects. The federal government has said it will reintroduce the legislation after making some changes.
